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Disaster and Social Crisis
RISK PERCEPTIONS OF DISASTERS: THEIR IMPACT
ON ACTUAL PREPAREDNESS BEHAVIOR Author(s): Alan Kirschenbaum The perception of risk plays a vital role in how people prepare for disasters. Underlying this is an assumption that the character of the person, their social environment and past experiences and behavior influences these perceptions. But do these perceptions affect actual preparedness? To determine the robustness of this relationship, a representative national urban household sample in Israel, was questioned about perceived risk assessments for both natural and non-conventional disasters. These included technological, industrial, biochemical terrorism and war. The analysis first looks at the theoretical issues of defining risk perceptions, proposes an empirical measure and then goes on to determine its predictors. In devising an empirical construct of perceived risk perceptions, a factor analysis clearly showed that risk perceptions are disaster-specific and depend on a constellation of components. Taking each of these risk components, the analysis went on to seek what theoretical variables would predict them. Employing a series of regression models, the results indicated that each of the disaster-specific risk assessments had a different set of origins. This suggested that not only is risk assessment disaster-specific but it depends on different circumstances and conditions. Taking these results one-step further, the risk factors were matched against preparedness components to evaluate if risk and actual disaster behaviors could be linked. Here, the findings were only partially confirmed. Overall, the analysis provided new insights into the concept of disaster related risk perceptions and their impact on actual disaster behavior.
LA VIOLENCIA SOCIALMENTE SOPORTADA
Author(s): Alejandrina Silva Toda violencia, es inaceptable desde el punto
moral lógico. Hay quienes justifican algunos tipos de violencia por
asumirlas como mal necesario, por ejemplo la violencia policial de Estado,
pero las razones que de estas violencias se dan, suelen estar llenas de
incongruencias y trampas. Así, si el Estado ha sido investido por la
nación con la autoridad para ejercer ciertas acciones de fuerza, lo hace
legítimamente, no hay abuso. Ahora bien, aunque el hombre por su
naturaleza tiende a ser moral y la violencia es inmoral, a menudo no
consigue desprenderse de ella porque sus acciones son inconscientes, y
así sufre por causa de violencias contenidas en sus propias conductas. Y
como con cada uno de nuestros actos, voluntarios o no, proponemos el orden
de nuestra sociedad, a menudo reproducimos y hasta forjamos un sistema de
valores que, independientemente de ser deseado o no, se revierte con
exigencia supraindividual sobre nosotros. Los hábitos violentos y el
dolor que éstos producen son inherentes a la condición humana, pero no
incorregibles, y la sociología cuenta con herramientas para conocerlos a
fondo. Particularmente en el concepto de anomía y los sistemas
explicativos que en torno a él se han construido, vemos un camino para
desentramar la violencia hasta las instancias más sutiles, como en esta
investigación lo intentamos con los jsvenes. Claro está que finalmente
la superación efectiva de la violencia requiere el trabajo de cada cual
en sí mismo.
LA 'SOCIEDAD DEL
RIESGO' Y SUS IMPLICACIONES PARA EL ANÁLISIS SOCIAL ('RISK SOCIETY' AND
ITS IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL ANÁLISIS) Author(s): Ana María Huesca González En esta comunicación se pretende, desde una revisión teórica de los distintos planteamientos que se han publicado sobre la llamada "sociedad del riesgo", evaluar sus posibilidades en la investigación aplicada. Se plantearán los distintos ámbitos en los que diferentes sociólogos lo han ya aplicado y se propondrá un modelo específico de análisis. En concreto, se explicará una propuesta de investigación sobre los efectos que la probable Guerra de Irak puede producir sobre la "sensación de inseguridad" que manifieste la población española.
TWENTY YEARS OF DISASTER RECOVERY IN
AUSTRALIA: FROM ASH WEDNESDAY TO BALI Author(s): Andrew Coghlan 16
February 2003 sees the 20th. Anniversary of one of the most significant
events in Australian disaster management, the Ash Wednesday bushfires.
While the fundamental principle of all post disaster assistance in
Australia has been the empowerment of individuals and communities to
manage their own recovery process a changing variety of support services
and mechanisms have been provided to meet this aim. At first appearance
the support mechanisms have been fairly consistent throughout the last 20
years, a mix of financial, material, economic, psychological and personal
support services. However, the emphasis and mix of services has varied,
driven by a range of factors, including community and political need. The
aim of the paper is to consider the changing nature of support services
and models of recovery management developed an applied in Australia
throughout the last 20 years. In exploring these models in further detail
consideration will be given to a range of issues and events from the Ash
Wednesday fires to the Bali bombings. From this an evaluation tool will be
developed for the assessment of post-disaster support services. This tool
may then be utilized as part of the process of ensuring the effectiveness
of support services for the array of different disasters which may occur
in the future. In broad terms, it is suggested that three main approaches
to post disaster support have been utilized. In chronological order these
are as follows: Model 1: Material and financial support Typified by the
provision of substantial funds for rebuilding purposes through sources
including Government, non-government and public appeal. Model 2:
Individual psychological support as part of a broad community development
program While financial and material assistance were still seen as
important the emphasis following a number of events was that individual
recovery would be most effective through psychological services such as
counseling and debriefing. Model 3: Personal support A combination or
balancing of models 1 and 2 saw the provision of practical support
services (incorporating both financial and psychosocial support) to both
individual and community as the basis of effective recovery. More recently
the emphasis has been on the development of community resilience and
capacity building as part of the overall disaster planning process, to
enable individuals and communities to become more self-reliant in dealing
with the effects of disasters. A key component of the research will be a
series of interviews with current and former disaster managers and
recovery coordinators from Australian States and Territories involved in
either the delivery of support services following specific events or
policy development at State and national level.
LAS
REPRESENTACIONES SOCIALES DEL RIESGO (SOCIAL REPRESENTATIONS OF RISK) Author(s):
Antonio Canas Varela Una serie de acontecimientos recientes ha venido a
demostrar que la opinión pública stá mucho más sensibilizada de lo que
cabría esperar respecto a los riesgos a los que está potencialmente
expuesta la población o su medio ambiente (reparación del submarino
nuclear "Tireless", "síndrome de los Balcanes",
"mal de las vacas locas", "accidente del Prestige",
etc.) Durante los próximos años es previsible que el desarrollo
tecnológico, científico e industrial pueda suponer un motivo creciente
de preocupación social, como efecto de la comunicación de posibles
situaciones de riesgo a las que se puede ver expuesta la población o su
medio ambiente, en virtud de este mismo proceso de desarrollo. Se trata,
por consiguiente, de estar en condiciones de conocer las claves que
permiten -y por tanto que, simultáneamente, pueden evitar- la gestión de
la comunicación de riesgos en las poblaciones afectadas por riesgos de
carácter tecnológico o industrial. La teoría sociológica actual está
convergiendo hacia la calificación de nuestras sociedades como
"sociedades de riesgo" y, en este sentido, el riesgo se ha
convertido en un elemento característico de nuestra reciente historia. Se
trata, en consecuencia, de trazar las líneas significativas de análisis
social que tienen como referencia básica el concepto de Construcción y
Percepción Social del Riesgo.
'THE EVENT' AS A SOCIAL 'ANALYZER': JEREZ,
8 JAN 1892 AND THE BOUGEOISIE ORDER Author(s): Antonio F. Vallejos On the night of 8th January 1892, a group of farm workers enter the city of Jerez1 shouting support for the 'Anarchy' and the 'Social Revolution'. They go straight to the jail with the purpose of freeing their 'companions' who are currently in prison.... Some of the members of the group killed two 'innocent people' that happened to be in the street. The repression handed out by the authorities was brutal... The fact, so outrageous (because 'it was impossible that something like that could happen') provokes a general situation of 'panic' both in the so called 'honest people' of the Jerez 'society' and also in the 'Spanish society' as a whole. The event, a very strange event -in which almost nothing happened- increases its magnitude due to rumours and the national broadcasting by the Madrid newspapers. These refer to the news as the 'Jerez's events' and even 'what happened in Jerez' but nobody explains what it is all about due to its weird nature. In the 'bourgeoisie class' -so called by the workers- the event takes huge imaginary ('fantasmatic') dimensions and the potential of the event (what could have happened) devores what quasi-happened: the 'accidental' death of two bourgeoisie men becomes 'the (required) death of every single one of them'. This is supposed to be the wish of the working class and surpasses the mere 'anarchist rebels'. The imaginary bourgeoisie class order (in which fragile institutions are still being set up and established) is threatened. Society relives the panic first felt in 1890, when the initial manifestations of the 1st May took place (before they became ritualized action). People are concerned that this (what has never occurred anywhere else in the world) might be successfully accomplished (taking the form of an 'delirious' universal conspiracy.) The ghosts of the Parisian Commune (1871) and the Cantonalist Revolution (1873) float in the air. Certainly, 'breach of de peace' events similar to the one that took place in Jerez, happened every day in the rest of the European cities (in the least and in the most important ones). For instance, only a few days after Jerez, Bilbao and later on Berlin and London experienced similar events - although not homogeneous. But the radical originality of what happened in Jerez rests in the 'absence of motives'. It was never known what it actually happened in Jerez that night in 1892, and that provoked a general 'catastrophic' alarm. The political (and social) powers found a working class demand that could not be met because it was invisible: it meant their own extermination. The Jerez's events are a significative historical 'analyzer' ['analizateur historique'] of the bourgeoisie order in the critical moments of its imaginary stabilisation. 1 Jerez de la Frontera (a city of Cadiz, Andalusia) was one of Spain's five main cities at that time, time in which centre/periphery relation was different to today's [although one ot the axioms of the socioanalysis is that 'the center is in the perifery']
LOS MEDIOS DE
COMUNICACIÓN ANTE SITUACIONES DE RIESGO (THE MASS MEDIA IN THE FACE OF RISK
SITUATIONS) Author(s): Ariadna Rodríguez Teijeiro Los medios de
comunicación, como formadores de opinión, son una parte fundamental en
el proceso de Construcción Social de Riesgos. El análisis de los
métodos y técnicas de comunicación de riesgos es una parte esencial
para entender cómo se ha construido ese Riesgo. Al mismo tiempo, el
seguimiento de los medios de comunicación posibilita el análisis del
discurso de determinados colectivos, que elaboran diferentes discursos
sobre las consecuencias y peligros de las labores de limpieza, así como
distintas valoraciones de la labor realizada por los voluntarios en
determinadas situaciones de riesgo. Un ejemplo claro lo podemos observar
en el caso del hundimiento del buque Prestige en el discurso de grupos
ecologistas advirtiendo de los "graves riesgos para la salud que
implica la recogida de fuel ante las insuficientes medidas de seguridad
adoptadas" y desaconsejando la participación de voluntarios en las
tareas de limpieza. La incidencia en la formación de la opinión pública
de estos colectivos, se produce a través de la reproducción de sus
mensajes en los medios de comunicación.
VULNERABILIDAD Y
RESISTENCIA EN LATINOAMÉRICA (VULNERABILITY AND RESILIENCE IN LATIN
AMERICA) Author(s): Ben Aguirre Se ofrece un análisis critico de cómo el
concepto de la vulnerabilidad social es usado en algunos estudios de
desastres en Latinoamérica para subrayar la necesidad de enfatizar la
capacidad de resistencia en los estudios de la vulnerabilidad en la
región. La incorporación de la capacidad de resistencia como elemento de
análisis en el estudio de la vulnerabilidad necesariamente produciría,
en el conocimiento sociológico y en los programas de prevención y
mitigación de los efectos de los desastres una apreciación mucho más
apropiada del fenómeno de los desastres que impactan el continente.
Pudiera además tener el efecto de darle mayor relevancia a los procesos
de movilización comunitaria, incorporándolos y comprometiéndoles con
los programas de defensa civil, de respuesta, y de mitigación de los
efectos de desastres y disminución de riesgos además de ayudar a
establecer modelos de administración publica más estables, que
establecieran criterios técnicos y profesionales en las burocracias y en
el desempeño administrativo y de darle mayor vigencia a los estudios de
las culturas ante los desastres de los pueblos latinoamericanos, hoy
frecuentemente ignorados en perjuicio de los programas de mitigación.
RISK AND POST-SEPTEMBER 11TH EVENTS
Author(s): David Denney Kagan has argued that America did not change on
September 11th, it simply became more itself. American hegemony has been
in the process of becoming since the nineteenth century. The expansionist
ambitions of the US can be seen in the pioneering westward expansion. The
new global danger represented by events of September 11th adds a number of
complex dimensions to the way in which terrorism is conceptualised. The
risk to the US and other allied countries is less well defined. Global
terrorism appears to present risks, which are simultaneously external,
internal and unknowable. The construction of terrorism as a global
national and cultural risk makes it extremely difficult to identify the
enemy. The paper will consider how this has justified a cessation of human
rights and international law in some situations. The paper will also
consider how pre-emptive action against nation-states like Iraq,
Afghanistan and threats to Syria and Iran serve to create tangible
legitimate targets for further expansionist policies. It will be argued
that aggressive determined unilateral global governance dominated by the
US could inflame tensions in an already sensitise area. Drawing on the
idea of Becks' 'Risk Society ' it will be argued that unilateral action is
being taken within a complex of conflicting international debates, which
have interlocking ideas about hypothetical risk at its foundation.
UNLOCKING DISASTER PARADIGMS: AN ACTOR
ORIENTED FOCUS ON DISASTER RESPONSE Author(s): Dorothea Hilhorst This
paper introduces a way of looking at disaster response through the study
of science, governance and local knowledge as social domains of knowledge
and action. Social domains are areas of social life such as family,
community and market whose study allows one to understand how social
ordering works. Disaster studies are often presented as constituting two
competing paradigms: the behavioural and the structural paradigms, the
second epitomized by the well-known book At Risk of 1993 by Piers Blaikie,
Terry Cannon, Ian Davis and Ben Wisner. The paper demonstrates how this
familiar distinction of paradigms is becoming outdated. Although both
paradigms continue to be used, I daresay that increased attention to
environmental processes and human-induced climate change has marked the
emergence of another disaster studies paradigm in the 1990s. This paradigm
emphasises the mutuality and complexity of hazard and vulnerability to
disaster due to complex interactions between nature and society. While
complexity thinking looks promising, the paper argues that in practice it
is divided by the classical schism between structure and agency thinking.
Much of complexity theory is based on 'system-thinking'. It denies agency
and diversity, and puts unwarranted boundaries around people and
phenomena. The study of social domains may be a way out of this problem,
since it allows us to focus on the everyday practices and movements of
actors negotiating the conditions and effects of vulnerability and
disaster.
SOCIAL CRISIS AND LEADERSHIP OF YOUTH: THE
FUTURE AFTER THE "END OF WORK" Author(s): Elena S. Gvozdeva This
paper is the outcome of the successful project on leadership of youth,
implemented by the team of young researches. The young generation, being
raised in the time of social crisis must form better understanding of
leadership as a factor of modernization of post communist society. The
following questions are considered: uncertainty and how the young
generation can cope with it, "end of work" and Russia's
"third way" in the world. The paper advances the idea prompted
by proceedings prepared within the UN Development Program. What if we make
an attempt to see the society where access to the generated material and
moral values is determined not only on the basis of work but also on
educational activity? The suggested revision of assessment criteria of
paid and unpaid work of women, youth and pensioners is based on results of
data analysis of 3 sources: data from representative surveys about living
conditions of the population conducted in 1997-2001 at the Institute of
Economics and IE SB RAS in Siberian region; data from the Russian
Longitudinal Monitoring Survey (RLMS, 1996, 1998, 2000), and data of the
empirical study on leadership of youth conducted in the Siberian Branch of
the Russian Academy of Science in 2002.
BERECHENBARKEIT AND RISK: THE TAMING OF
FATE IN DEVELOPING SOCIETIES Author(s): Elisio Macamo The sociology of
risk, which as of late has provided important insights to the
understanding of crises and disasters, assumes a fundamental difference
between advanced and less advanced societies in the way they perceive and
come to terms with uncertainty. The work of Ulrich Beck and Niklas
Luhmann, to mention two of the most outstanding sociologists in the field,
has tended to suggest that risk as phenomenon is only known in
technologically advanced societies, for they have the knowledge (science)
to ground risk-awareness on factual information. As a consequence, the
notion of risk is assumed to be absent from the everyday vocabulary and
practices of less developed societies, which are often depicted as merely
vulnerable and passive victims of nature. This view is strengthened by a
particular way of reading classical social theory, which initially sought
to distinguish modern society from its predecessors and ended up
describing non-European societies in a particular. The aim of this paper
is to argue that both the assumption that less developed societies have a
different relationship to risk as well as the reference to classical
social theory are problematic. The paper will seek to show from an
empirical example - the study of the local perception, prevention and
control of crises and disasters in southern Mozambique (funded by the
German Research Council) - that there is no analytically relevant
difference between the way advanced societies and less developed societies
deal with crises and disaster in the context of everyday life. Further, it
will discuss Max Weber's notion of "calculability"
(Berechenbarkeit), a central concept in his social action theory, and show
that it, indeed, recovers an important anthropological constant, which is
still useful to make sense of how societies - modern and
"traditional" - cope with uncertainty.
SOCIAL CRISIS AND THE SIGNIFICANCE OF
'COMMUNITY BUILDING' IN DEVELOPING LOCAL RESILIENCE TO HARMFUL GAMBLING
Author(s): Erica Hallebone Australia has over 20% of the world's highest
intensity electronic gaming machines (EGMs or 'poker machines') and half
EGMs' monetary turnover is from problem or pathological gamblers.
Government revenue from gambling in the State of Victoria is the highest
in Australia: it represents nearly 20% of its income. Victoria is probably
the most gambling-dependent jurisdiction in the western world. Since poker
machines were introduced to Victoria (ten years ago), their spread has
been rapid and clustered in disadvantaged communities. Recognition of
social crisis and local government advocacy have led to recent success in
developing 'responsible gambling' strategies and also limiting the spread
of EGMs. From gambling taxes gathered in the Community Support Fund, the
Victorian Government has introduced a 'Community Building' initiative to
support local communities and improve service provision. Ten local
communities, suburbs or towns where social, geographic or economic
disadvantage has been identified are included. Community Building focus is
on areas undergoing very rapid change and greatest impacts of gambling.
The research reported here is located within local government
jurisdictions which encompass 'Community Building' enterprises. An
interpretivist sociological methodology comprises interviews and focus
groups conducted in urban and rural municipalities which represent high
poker machine density, problem gambling and community concern; also they
display local diversity of ethnic and language communities. The major aim
is to interpret community attributes within this social crisis
contributing positively to local resilience to harmful gambling as part of
a wider aim of interpreting vulnerability to community-wide disasters and
emergencies. Participants' perceptions enable interpretation to be made of
institutional and cultural effectiveness in community empowerment and risk
minimisation. Implications of this research support policy development,
program management and resource allocation considerations for local and
State governments.
RESILIENT UNITED KINGDOM: FACT, FICTION OR
FALLACY?-AN EXAMINATION OF THE PROPOSED NEW EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT
STRUCTURES FOR THE UK Author(s): Eve Coles Researchers in the United
Kingdom have long recognised that the emergency management system was in
need of restructuring. (see for example Parker and Handmer, 1992, Rockett
1993, Coles 1998, Norman and Coles 2002). Only when the fuel crisis and
the floods of 2001 and the foot and mouth crisis of 2002 exposed serious
weakness in the United Kingdom's capability to deal with wide area
emergencies, not to mention the government's own capacity for dealing with
crisis, did the Government take note. So much so that the Deputy Prime
Minister ordered an immediate review of emergency management in the UK.
The subsequent terrorist attacks of 9/11 further enhanced the ad hoc
nature of the system and added impetus to the need to restructure.
'Resilience' has been a term adopted by the Government in an attempt to
describe the way in which they would like to reduce the UK's
susceptibility to major incidents of all kinds by reducing their
probability of occurring and their likely effects and by building
institutions and structures in such a way as to minimize any possible
effects of disruption upon them. (Cabinet Office, 2002) It has stated that
the 'resilience agenda' is seeking to do three things; 1. Build a
comprehensive capability for anticipating major incidents, where possible
prevent them or take action in advance that will mitigate their effects.
2. Ensure that planning for response and recovery is geared to the risk
therefore ensuring preparedness. 3. Promote a 'culture of resilience'
including business continuity thus helping to reduce the disruptive
effects of disaster. (ibid) The Government has also finally recognised
that the legislative framework that currently governs emergency management
in the UK is both outdated and outmoded and is drawing up a new Civil
Contingencies Bill. However the window of opportunity that presented
itself in the first two years of the Millennium is rapidly closing, as the
bureaucracy of 'Whitehall' and the political will of 'Westminster' play
their part in slowing the momentum of change. This paper will explore the
current structures that are in place to deal with major emergencies in the
United Kingdom, critically examine the proposed new structures and
legislation that are now being prepared and draw conclusions regarding the
'resilience' of the UK and its ability to cope with a major event.
THE IMPACT OF STATE FAILURE ON CIVIL
SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS IN TURKEY FOLLOWING THE 1999 EARTHQUAKE: THE CASE OF
A SEARCH AND RESCUE VOLUNTARY ORGANIZATION Author(s): Hande Paker This
paper presents research on state-civil society relations in Turkey. The
research was conducted on 2 associations, the Turkish Red Crescent
(Kizilay) and AKUT (a search and rescue team), after the major earthquake
in Turkey in 1999. In this paper, I present findings on the impact of
state failure on a voluntary organization, namely AKUT. The Marmara
earthquake in 1999 was devastating not only physically in terms of the
damage it caused, but also socially in terms of the extent of the failure
of state institutions it exposed and the extent of criticisms it
unleashed. The immediate chaos that ensued in the aftermath of the
earthquake was marked by the "absence of the state". The failure
of the state provoked an unprecedented civil reaction and mobilization. In
this civil mobilization, AKUT emerged as the modal of civil society,
representing trust, reliability, voluntariness, selflessness, and success.
The earthquake is a turning point for AKUT since it underwent a major
transformation due to the changes caused by the work it has carried out in
the aftermath of the earthquake. I argue that the particular way AKUT's
transformation has occurred is due to the over-missionization of this
association, with public expectations and demands from AKUT far exceeding
their self-defined goals and capabilities. This out-of-scale level of
trust of and expectations from a civil society organization in the face of
state failure had negative repercussions on AKUT because the question of
how to institutionalize proved divisive for AKUT. This transformation was
also accompanied by a certain amount of prestige rent. That the work done
in organizations of humanitarian aid, disaster relief and rescue work
brings substantial prestige is not a new idea. However, in AKUT's case
this has been so pronounced that it became a source of rent and as such, a
threat to voluntariness and democratic participation associated with such
organizations. This dynamic, again, is directly related to
over-missionization. This, in turn, causes internal problems in the
running of the association in terms of member intake and participation,
decision-making and external problems in organizing relations with
established rescue organizations. Finally, I argue that the
over-missionization of AKUT is directly the result of state failure. Thus,
ineffectiveness of the state does not translate into well-working civil
society organizations as the case of AKUT shows. The absence of a capable
state affects the nature of civil society organizations adversely.
PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECTS AND THE 11 SEPTEMBER
2001 Author(s): Henry W. Fischer How do human beings respond as victims of
events labeled as terrorism? The first answer to the question is: they do
not characterize themselves as collateral damage in the cause of freedom
fighting. They do respond, however, in a very similar psychosocial fashion
as victims of natural and hazardous materials disasters. In a 1998 White
Paper completed by the author for the U.S. Defense Department, it was
argued that terrorist events are similar to natural and hazardous
materials disasters in their impact upon and response by surviving
victims. The events in the U.S. on 11 September 2001 provided the
unfortunate opportunity to test the earlier argument. Anecdotal evidence
from the 11 September attack is offered to assess the saliency of the
contention that acts of terrorism may be added to the list of disaster
agents with respect to psychosocial aspects of response. Evidence is drawn
from interviews and content analyses conducted by the author as well as
field work conducted by other U.S. researchers.
CRISIS Y
SIMBOLOGÍA COLECTIVA EN ARGENTINA: LA CONCILIACIÓN DEL (DES)ORDEN VIVIDO
CON EL ORDEN SOÑADO (CRISIS AND COLLECTIVE SYMBOLISM IN ARGENTINA: THE
CONCILIATION OF THE EXPERIENCED [DIS]ORDER WITH THE DESIRABLE ORDER)
Author(s): Jochen Dreher and Silvana Figueroa Argentina vive desde
Diciembre de 2002 - fecha de la renuncia del ex-presidente Fernando de la
Rúa - una crisis económica, social y política inédita en su historia.
Aunque las raíces de la crisis no son nuevas, su virulencia la convierte
en una verdadera catástrofe económica y social, con índices de pobreza,
desocupación y violencia percibidos por los sujetos como síntomas de
severa desintegración social. En este marco es fundamental desentrañar
no sólo las razones (económicas, sociales, culturales) que llevaron a la
crisis, sino cómo ésta es vivida subjetivamente por los argentinos,
cuáles son las simbologías colectivas (re)activadas con la catástrofe
argentina y cuáles son los factores integradores que generan cohesión y
lazos de pertenencia simbólica a la sociedad en crisis. En nuestra
presentación discutiremos resultados empíricos obtenidos en el marco de
nuestro proyecto de investigación cualitativa "Construcción de
Identidades en Sociedades Pluralistas.! Procesos de Constitución de lo
'Extraño' y lo 'Propio' en Argentina". Enfocaremos en la forma en
que los argentinos recurren a mitos y rituales producidos por ellos mismos
(específicamente los casos del gaucho y el tango) - en contraste con la
simbología oficial impuesta por el estado - como formas simbólicas de
"superación" de la desintegración social experimentada
subjetiva y colectivamente. Los rituales gauchescos en el campo y
tangueros en la ciudad les posibilitan a los individuos - tal nuestra
tesis - unir en formas simbólicas específicas, que serán discutidas en
nuestra presentación, el "mundovivido" con el "mundo
soñado o deseado", último refugio de los argentinos en una sociedad
" que se derrumba ".
EL CASO DE MUXIA
EN LA CRISIS DEL PRESTIGE (MUXIA'S CASE IN THE PRESTIGE CRISIS)
Author(s): José Manuel Álvarez Sánchez Este estudio trata sobre los
efectos del vertido del Prestige en el pueblo de Muxía. Se trata de dar a
conocer las opiniones de los afectados sobre la catástrofe derivada de
este vertido. El Prestige no fue el único buque que naufragó y derramó
productos dañinos para el ecosistema de A Costa Da Morte, sin embargo,
esta vez se produjo un fuerte apoyo por parte de la administración, con
importantes ayudas económicas, y también una gran difusión de la
catástrofe por parte de los medios de comunicación de masas, al mismo
tiempo que aparecían continúas manifestaciones populares, en solidaridad
con los afectados. El interés de los medios de comunicación se
convirtió en destacar la situación de desastre económico y ecológico.
La movilización de voluntarios procedentes de todo el país hacía mayor
énfasis el la situación de catástrofe. A pesar de las sucesivas
noticias que aparecían relacionando el vertido del petrolero con
movimientos de contestación social por parte de los afectados
económicamente, el caso es que tras realizar un estudio de observación
participante en el pueblo de Muxía, uno de los más dañados, se
descubrió que la mayoría de los pescadores estaban enormemente
satisfechos con las ayudas procedentes de la administración y algunos
incluso llegaban a desear que se hundiera otro petrolero para así poder
evitar trabajar en el mar, lo cual es muy duro fisicamente, y cobrar un
dinero que jamás podrían alcanzar trabajando en el mar. Este estudio nos
permite observar como a partir de una catástrofe se producen diferentes
focos de gestión de la comunicación los cuales generan distintas
interpretaciones de la realidad llegando incluso a olvidar las opiniones
de los auténticos afectados.
A COGNITIVE-ANTHROPOLOGY AND CONCEPTUAL
APPROACH TO TERROR AND TERRORISM Author(s): José Rodrigues dos Santos In
the present world context, one of the major paradoxes consists in the fact
that the themes "terrorism" and "counter-terrorism"
occupy an overwhelming place in the public discourse, while no single,
simple, rational definition can be agreed upon, even amongst the state or
international institutions that pretend to be allies in the management of
these issues. Moreover, the sociological analyses tend to focus on such
issues as the social profiles of "terrorists", the social causes
that lead certain actors to engage in terror or on the typology of
terrorist organizations as such. These approaches, however useful they
doubtless are, tend to neglect the elementary social and cognitive
processes of terror, and to leave apart the specific rationality of
terrorism. The latter tends to appear as an irrational outburst of pure -
and extreme - violence, more suitable for an examination by clinical
psychology than for a study of the underlying social processes. We propose
a systematic examination of some definitions of the concepts of
"terror" and "terrorism", in order to identify the
causes of incongruence and contribute to a clarification of what is at
stake in the conceptual debate. The notion of "Terror" is first
examined in an anthropological and cognitive perspective, and related to
the notions of "risk" and "crisis" as characteristics
of our new modernity. The notion of "Terrorism" is analysed as a
special tactical configuration within a social system, where the critical
variables (even in the most extreme cases) are legitimacy, credibility and
reward. Finally, we try to scrutinize the consequences of the use of
"counter-terror" on the very fabric of the social system at
large.
RUSSIAN SMALL TOWNS DURING CRISIS: CHANGES
IN SOCIAL ATTITUDES AMONG THE 'COMMON PEOPLE' Author(s): Juri Plusnin
Radical changes in world outlook and social attitudes among the 'common
people' in the end of crisis decade (1999 - 2002) were connected with a
new direction in home policy of government. Materials and data:
respondents living in local communities of small towns (4,000 - 50,000
inhabitants). In 1999, 1001 respondents from 26 towns in 12 regions and in
2001-2002, 663 respondents from 19 towns in 14 regions were interviewed.
Used methodology: (i) focused interview with local experts and
respondents; (ii) public-opinion poll (questionnaire); (iii) official
statistical returns and annual reports of State institutions in towns.
Social economic attitudes: the most part of provincial population are
connected with economy controlled and regulated by State, and state
support of all members of the society, as many people have very poor
living standards. At the same time the economic attitudes were
considerably changed during the decade: (i) more than one half of
households learnt to subsist from outside of State support
(self-sufficiency); (ii) the small-business class was increased since the
middle of the decade (5-7% up to 10% of employable). The social political
attitudes of the town's inhabitants are very conservative. They are
monarchic oriented in general. The dominant theme in people's political
preferences remains the same as it was at the beginning of the decade:
"Give us a Boss then we'd make an effort." In Putin's
administration, both local and federal, gain authority, which was steadily
lost in Eltzin's.
CRISIS MEDIÁTICAS
Y PERCEPCIÓN SOCIAL : EL CASO PRESTIGE Y EL 'MAL DE LAS VACAS LOCAS (THE MASS MEDIA CRISIS AND SOCIAL
PERCEPTION: THE CASE OF THE PRESTIGE AND THE 'MAD COW' DISEASE) Author(s):
Lorena Rey Piñeiro El objeto de la presente comunicación es el análisis
del componente político y mediático que contiene toda crisis, sea esta
de origen tecnológico, medioambiental o económica, etc. o de mezcla de
varios de ellos. Partimos de la definición de catástrofe como evento que
tiene lugar a media o gran escala, inusual e inesperado, predecible o no,
con importantes consecuencias a nivel material, humano, sobre individuos o
grupos, etc., y que supone un peligro para la integridad física o
psíquica de las personas, ya sea inmediata, a largo plazo o potencial, y
de crisis como la situación de incertidumbre generada a partir de la
catástrofe. Encontramos que la crisis implica un elemento de percepción:
se trata de la situación de incertidumbre o confusión asociada a un
"knock over" inesperado, pero sujeto a distintas
interpretaciones, sin duda. Así pues, se puede decir que las crisis no
son ecológicas, tecnológicas, etc., son crisis sociales, políticas,
mediáticas en definitiva. Tomando como punto de apoyo de toda esta
reflexión tal constatación parece posible enfocar los recientes casos
del "Mal de las vacas locas" y el Prestige como crisis
mediáticas, crisis en las que el papel de los medios de comunicación,
con su función de noticiar, ha sido determinante en su origen, evolución
y consecuencias, elaborando, en consecuencia, un discurso cuyas relaciones
con la esfera de la sociedad y la política merecen ser investigados
LA DIMENSIÓN
MEDIÁTICA EN UN CONTEXTO DE CATÁSTROFE Y CRISIS: OPINIÓN PÚBLICA,
ACCIÓN COLECTIVA Y CAMBIO SOCIAL - ANÁLISIS DEL TRATAMIENTO INFORMATIVO
SOBRE EL CASO 'PRESTIGE' EN LOS DIARIOS 'EL PAÍS', 'ABC' Y 'LA VOZ DE
GALICIA' (THE MASS MEDIA DIMENSION IN A DISASTER AND
CRISIS CONTEXT: PUBLIC OPINION, COLLECTIVE ACTION AND SOCIAL CHANGE - AN
ANALYSIS OF THE INFORMATION TREATMENT IN THE CASE OF THE 'PRESTIGE' BY THE
NEWSPAPERS 'EL PAÍS', 'ABC' AND 'LA VOZ DE GALICIA') Author(s): Mar de
Santiago Pérez El objeto de esta comunicación se fundamenta en la
consideración central del papel esencial que juegan los medios de
comunicación, y en particular, la contribución de la prensa diaria en la
formación y conformación de la opinión pública, y en la
sustantivación de los componentes de la realidad que se retransmite en
contexto de tal magnitud y características. Los enfoques contructivistas
de las ciencias sociales resaltan la capacidad de los textos para
construir la realidad social y política. En este sentido, se trata de
observar, con la aplicación de una metodología ad hoc (análisis de
marcos) como se construye y elabora la información que provee a los
actores sociales de los métodos interpretativos(marcos) con los que
observar y comprender esa realidad para que surta sus "efectos",
es decir, interrogarse o cuestionarla(marco de diagnostico),contemplar la
posibilidad de modificarla y plantear alternativas y soluciones(marco de
pronostico) y finalmente orientar y reorientar la acción. La dimensión
mediática así analizada e interpretada nos dará las claves del
posicionamiento de la ciudadanía ante este suceso y, consecuentemente,
los pasos de cara a la acción y la movilización social (o en todo caso,
su efecto contrario). Si la comunicación pública (en forma de opinión
publicada) es vital para la formación de la opinión pública y resulta
clave para la movilización social: ¿que mensajes lanzan cada uno de
estos diarios?¿que realidad ofrecen a través de sus informaciones? Y lo
más importante, si los objetivos o fines de cada uno de la diferentes
tácticas o estrategias mediáticas producen los efectos y consecuencias
buscados, es decir influir en la ciudadanía y en sus opiniones, actitudes
y acciones en una dirección u otra.
SOCIAL INCLUSION AND CRISIS AFTER FORDISM
Author(s): Max Koch Whether capitalism scores high or low in terms of
social cohesion depends greatly on the way its main elements are
interconnected in an institutional network. In this paper, social cohesion
and labour market inclusion in particular are interpreted from a
regulation theoretical perspective, which has been designed to understand
the dynamics of institutional and social change within capitalist
accumulation. It is associated with authors such as Michel Aglietta, Alain
Lipietz, Bob Jessop, Joachim Hirsch and many others. First, the paper
refers to some of the basic assumptions of the regulation approach and
discusses the modus vivendi of social inclusion in Fordism. Secondly, it
touches on the debate on the crisis of Fordism and outlines possible
Post-Fordist growth paths, and raises the issue of social inclusion in the
context of these different models of development. Finally, against this
theoretical background, it interpretes some of the results from a
comparative research project on de-regulation and re-regulation of labour
markets and welfare systems in the Netherlands, Spain, the UK, Sweden and
Germany.
DEVELOPMENTS IN DISASTER MANAGEMENT IN
TURKEY: INSTITUTIONAL LEARNING OR INSTITUTIONAL SURVIVAL INSTINCT?
Author(s): Murat Balamir After the 1999 earthquake disasters, it was
extensively claimed that these events would mark a turning point in the
history of disaster management in Turkey. It was true that for the first
time regulatory mechanisms were devised for mitigation purposes, as in the
case of construction supervision, compulsory earthquake insurance, and
measures to check the proficiency qualifications in the technical
services. As much of the earlier vigilance dissipated in time, some of
these attempts were checked, some were distorted, others simply removed.
Reasons were not only embedded in the historically fragmented nature of
the coalition government, but also in the institutional resistance and
self-reaffirmation struggles of the administrations. This does not mean
however, progress was not made. Not only a new perspective was introduced
with the legitimation of mitigation and risk management, but also
significant progress has been achieved in emergency management and
preparedness work. Many of the city administrations (governorships and
municipalities) today have better trained, well equipped, and alert rescue
teams. These investments proved their worth in the more recent small-scale
disasters. Response periods are shorter, less of chaos is allowed, care
services are more professionally organised. Yet improved preparedness
capacities are often mistakenly assumed to provide the ultimate security
and remove the need for risk management efforts. The conventional
institutions have repelling instincts in adopting new approaches and
recognizing the newly formed bodies. Current problems are in: o the
coordination or unification of the administrative functions into a
coherent body; o the redistribution of emergency management functions in a
cascade of responsibilities, involving municipalities and local
communities; o the upgrading of the land-use and urban planning system for
risk management, better supervision, and incorporation of local
communities into the formal decision-making procedures; o the
reorientation of the insurance system to induce mitigation investments.
With a powerful government in office, every opportunity is available today
to maintain coherence in administration. This should overcome the
tendencies of production of independent regulatory proposals by individual
bodies, and generate a coordinated and single-minded system for disaster
management, providing greater scope for the local communities. The most
recent earthquakes are likely to hasten these developments. Greater hopes
are accommodated currently in a number of independent research and
implementation efforts. The Greater Istanbul Municipality has tendered an
'Earthquake Master Plan' to be completed by July 2003, a road-plan for a
mega-city in risk management and mitigation. As a complementary step, an
implementation project is also tendered for immediate urban
rehabilitation. These also spearhead research in necessary changes in the
regulatory systems in detail, enforcement powers needed, the financial
provisions required, and methods of community involvement in physical
mitigation. At least the survival instinct of Istanbul is likely to
provide the material for learning.
THE TRANSFORMATION OF THE SOCIAL STRUCTURE
IN THE CONDITIONS OF AN ARMED CONFLICT Author(s): Musa Movlievich Yusupov
In the introduction, we described the conceptual approaches, the methods
of analysis of social and structural changes applied in the conditions of
political crisis and Russian - Chechen war. In the first part of the
report we gave a short characteristics of the social structure in the pre
- war period. We gave the statistical data and the data of the
sociological researches; we disclosed the interrelationship of social and
ethnic structure. In the second part of the report we pointed out that the
destruction of social and economic infrastructure and communicational ties
as a result of military actions is accompanied by the collapse of social
and professional structure and by the strengthening of isolation of
territorial communities. In the conditions of Russian - Chechen and inter
- Chechen opposition, the instability of different groups is growing and
the ethnical solidarity is disturbed. The social configuration changes as
well, new groups and communities are formed as well as new
"solidarities" on social, economic and political interests.
During this process the functional role of norms and values is weakening,
the social and military violence is becoming boundless. We consider
expedient to fix the mobility of the communities constructed according to
the religious and political views. The character of the considered
structural changes caused by violence, their humanist aspect persuades us
in the necessity of the general coalition for the defense of democratic
institutes and universal values.
A SOCIOLOGICAL PROFILE OF GREEKS ARRESTED
FOR PARTICIPATION IN THE '17TH OF NOVEMBER REVOLUTIONARY ORGANIZATION'
Author(s): Nicholas Petropoulos "The 17th of November Revolutionary
Organization" is one of the longest-living terrorist organizations in
recent comparative history. Classified as a "social
revolutionary" Marxist-Leninist, urban guerrilla terrorist
organization, its 27-year action (1975-2002) came reportedly to an end
with the accidental injury of one of its principal operatives during an
abortive bombing attack against a Greek coastal lines company on June 29,
2002 in the Port City of Piraeus. Between June 29, 2002 and January 10,
2003, 19 Greeks were arrested for alleged participation in the "17N
Revolutionary Organization". The longevity of the 17N organization
has led secret services and social analysts to conclude that the terrorist
organization was composed of highly intelligent and high-skilled
individuals. Using a variety of journalistic sources, representing a range
of ideological persuasions, the paper constructs a social profile of the
arrestees, taking into account their class and political origins, their
present occupations, their educational achievements, their demographic
(age, sex, generation) characteristics, the family social pathology, and
the recruitment routes (e.g. family connections, friendship, regional,
academic etc.). A preliminary analysis suggests both uniformities (e.g.
sex composition, class origins) and uniquenesses (e.g. prevalence of
interlocking primary networks, lower levels of formal education, etc) when
compared with other "social revolutionary" urban guerrilla
terrorist groups in Western Europe. The paper concludes with an
interpretation of the uniformities/uniqueness as well as of the emergence,
continuity and longevity of the "17N Revolutionary
Organization," taking into consideration the social composition of
the 17N, the historical, political, and the legal factors endemic to Greek
society during the last 50 years as well as the relevant empirical
literature on revolutionary terrorist organizations and the theory on
social movements.
COMMUNITY CAPABILITY AND DISASTER
MANAGEMENT Author(s): Philip Buckle, Graham Marsh and Syd Smale Recent
efforts in Australia and the United Kingdom to promote the development of
community capacity (often under the headings such as social capital and
best value) may have direct application to engaging local people in the
management of risk and in improving community and institutional capacity
to manage impacts and recovery processes. Our research in Australia and
the United Kingdom highlights some critical issues in making the locus of
disaster management more "local". This research is based on a
series of case studies of utility disruption in Australia and England,
flood in England and wildfire in Australia, compared with a control group
of councils where there has been no disruption beyond the norm for any
locality. Community building projects may not directly target disaster
management capacity but by focusing on developing leaderships,
communication networks, negotiation skills and resource acquisition
practice the effect (often unintended) is to improve local capacity which
in turn should make residents more resilient to the impact of disasters.
At the same time this capacity is dependent on certain inherent capacities
of the community, at least latent capacities. These include local
commitment, mutual trust and "seed" leaders. With certain
pre-existing elements institutionally supported capacity building
programmes can be very effective. Without these elements they may not be
effective. An often unforeseen aspect of these programmes is that there is
in the process of development the risk that existing local activity will
be ignored, forced into channels to which it is not appropriate or even
that local resources (typically leadership skills and personal commitment)
will be drained and enervated. Nonetheless, our research indicates that
with careful nurturing and consideration for what already exists in the
community and the locality (recognising that community may be aspatial)
community capacity building programmes can have a direct and measurable
positive effect on disaster and risk management capability.
THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL NGOS IN EMERGENCY
MANAGEMENT-ISSUES AND CHALLENGES IN THE CONTEXT OF SOUTH ASIA Author(s):
Rohit Jigyasu International Non-governmental Organizations (NGOs) have an
increasing role to play in emergency management, especially in critical
disaster situations, which have become more frequent in recent decades,
especially in the so called 'developing' world. It is important that these
NGOs are aware of certain basic considerations, while formulating their
policies and programmes. The paper will bring forward these considerations
in the context of south Asia, especially in the light of several crucial
issues and challenges which are confronted by the author in his study of
emergency situation following devastating earthquake which hit Gujarat
(India) on 26th January, 2001. The Gujarat case is interesting for the
pioneering role played by various NGOs in the rescue and recovery
operations following the quake. In this paper, the author will make a
detailed assessment of the success and failures of various activities and
programmes undertaken by international NGOs during emergency management
phase. The sustainability of their efforts will be critically assessed in
a long-term perspective, more than two years after the quake hit the
region. The assessment is primarily based on the research work undertaken
by the author for his recently accomplished doctoral studies titled
`Reducing Disaster Vulnerability through Local Knowledge and Capacity -
the Case of Earthquake-prone Rural Communities in India and Nepal'.
M/V ESTONIA:
DESASTRE, IMPACTO Y MEMORIA (M/V ESTONIA: DISASTER IMPACT AND MEMORY)
Author(s): Susann Ullberg La noche del 28 de Septiembre del 1994 marcó la
historia del pueblo sueco, como así de los Estonianos y Finlandeses. Esa
noche el ferry de pasajeros M/S Estonia se hundió en el Mar Báltico, en
las costas de Finlandia. Una operación transnacional de rescate salvaron
a 137 personas. 852 vidas se perdieron esa noche cuándo, en menos de una
hora, la gigantesca nave se fue al fondo del mar. Este trabajo propone
explorar las consecuencias sociales de este desastre en la sociedad sueca.
Con 'consecuencias' se refiere a fenómenos que representen un proceso de
transformación social y cultural. El trabajo pretende trazar este proceso
en cuestión examinándo como es construida la memoria social del
desastre. A partir de teorias sociales y culturales relevantes se propone
que la memoria social de un desastre es un espacio colectivo significativo
para (1) elaborar y negociar los hechos del evento y los significados del
mismo en sí, y (2) donde se forjan diferentes consecuencias sociales en
tiempo y espacio. El caso del M/S Estonia es utilizado como material
empírico para explorar estos tópicos.
THE PSYCHO-SOCIAL SYMBOLISM OF TERRORISM
AND ITS USES Author(s): Susanna M. Hoffman When a disaster befalls a
society, inevitably the event becomes charged with psycho-social symbolism
dealing with the situation. Behind the symbols lies reasoning that
classifies the event and gives it cause, context, content, and meaning.
With a natural calamity, many people evoke the symbolic option of
bifurcating nature. They split nature into the nurturing part and separate
out the "bad" into an amorphous demon. Technological disasters
and terrorism events give rise to much the same symbolism, but with a
difference. They arise not from what people see as nature, but from what
people see as the human community. Thus the demon takes on a special
human, but inhuman, form. A terrorist event is seen as a monstrous act;
the perpetrators as monsters. Once in place the symbol of monster has many
complex and often disturbing aspects. Rather than merely appearing at
troubled times, the monster when evoked actually creates troubled times.
Hovering beyond the edge of the human community, the monster is a
resistant other known only through process and movement. The monster has
ontological liminality. What fashions it or brings it about always remains
somewhat obscure. It has antidiachronicity. Monstrous acts can only be
read backward from the present and what is known of them only derives from
their incidence. No one can calculate their calendar. The shift and are
unpredictable. After each appearance they turn immaterial and vanish.
Moreover, it appears they cannot be vanquished. The monster reveals
defects; it brings to light unsuspected things about its victims and their
society. Political consequences lie in the belly of the monster. The rise
of the monster presents an excuse for persons and factions to impose
controls upon others, governments to rush in to take command. The symbol
is used to invoke fear and suppress dissent. What caused the monster to
appear stirs ripples in the value system. Is the society innocent or
immoral? What's more, the monster symbol can be used by opposing sides.
Disasters that spring from people themselves eradicate a society's hale
recovery. Denial of menace cannot be wholly reconstituted. It follows that
in concept, terrorism, along with technological disasters, figure as the
most dangerous and polluting, psycho-socially if not otherwise. Enemies
within provoke continuous tension and require constant vigil. As a result,
terrorism prompts particular rituals to arise. Each piece of physical
evidence from the event becomes a kind of fetish object and communities
resurrect a long known restorative. They pry out the wrong doers.
Terrorist events stand "ex" cycle. They contradict specific
formulas and repudiate the formal and informal cycles that other disasters
are often viewed in. Events such as the World Trade Center Bombing never
reemerge in people's imaginations as predictable occurrences. Terrorism
also never receives beautification as natural disasters often do. With
natural disasters, in time people often reinvented the calamity as
"creative estruction." Symbolically, terrorism leaves lasting
scorched earth.
PREVENTION AND RESOLVING OF PERSONAL
SOCIAL-CULTURAL CRISES Author(s): Tatiana Korkhonen Examination of crisis theory and intervention practice demonstrates that their evolution has been mainly determined by psychiatry and psychology over a long period what has stressed the individual aspects of crisis development mostly. So far social components of crisis were neglected for a long time. Nevertheless, that neglect does not reflect their unimportance but rather represents a serious omission. The special contribution to the modern crisis theory was made by social scientists who were the first in revealing crisis states originated from social values and discrimination practice. Defining of crisis origins is the first step in the crisis management. Nowadays we determine social-cultural values and social structures as one of the crisis origins. Examples of such crises are loss of job as a result of age discrimination, forced movement of older people to the special institutions motivated by ageism and values about nuclear family, violence against older people related to discipline values and social-structural family factors. Crises originated from social and cultural sources are usually more uncontrollable by individual than crises originated from individual actions. Social factors that have become the crisis origins should not be interpreted as personal defects or victim responsibility. That is why intervention strategies focused only on the personality of individual in crisis without attention to social change strategies are usually not sufficient for positive crisis outcome. Therefore, actions focused on social change strategies, reforming of existing system of social and cultural values, development of social advocacy should accompany any crisis intervention in order to rehabilitate people whose crises are originated from social-cultural sources as well as prevent development of these crises.
THE SOCIOLOGY CLASSICS AND ACTUAL WAR
COMPLEX DISASTER CRISES Author(s): Vera Vratusa The paper critically
appraises the main classical theoretical research approaches to war, from
the a-historical biological reductionism of "social Darwinism"
to the static political reductionism of the "real state
politics". It establishes that the expectation of sociology classics,
whereby the processes of rationalization, industrialization,
secularization, scientific and technological revolution would contribute
to a substitution of the militaristic traditional society by the
peacefully trading one, did not materialize. The explanatory hypothesis is
formulated from the perspective of the dialectical historical materialism.
According to this simultaneously structural and genetic perspective, war
presents the ultimate repressive instrument for periodical violent
solution of accumulated social contradictions in class societies. The war
is namely used either to maintain and extend the validity-domain of the
old class relations of production and ownership, or to install the social
and institutional conditions for the new one. This hypothesis is tested on
two case studies. The first is the recent destruction by war of people's
lives and property accompanied by long- lasting radioactive and toxic
pollution of the environment in the region of the violently-dismembered
former multi-ethnic Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The other is
the actual intensification of the same war-complex disaster processes in
oil-rich and otherwise strategically important countries. Both cases are
related to the attempt by the dominant financial fraction of the
transnational capital, economically organized in IMF and WB and militarily
organized in NATO, to extricate trans-national financial and corporate
capital from the structural accumulation crisis through war. The war
circumstances speed up the dismantling of the welfare nation-state
protection policy, public property, redistributive practices and
trade-unions worldwide, but primarily in the former and new colonies and
semicolonies. This enables the aging global financial oligarchy to acquire
direct and uncontrolled access to local natural and human resources at the
cheapest price or no price at all, at the expense of present and future
generations.
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